STOMPS - pedalboard or rack 'em...?? Come on in

[Ventura]

Yo Cats...

Been working alongside Rooster trying to figure out my board. I've got about 15 primo pedals, got a method of powering all of these perfectly well with a couple VoodooLabs PP2 or ISO5s, got the size of the board, and going with the notion of a VoodooLabs pedal switcher to group and loop 'em. But I'm still not sold. I'm pondering between this concept of up front and by my feet, versus racking them, and using a MIDI switching device. Considering I've got a couple *reverb and delay* I want in the loops, AND I use 2 amps at once, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... Not sure which is the best route to take.

And YES, for those of you who may recall, I've been working on this project for 2 years I always end up throwing the ones I need in front of me and jimmy-rigging the looped stomps and going to town this way. After the wave of playing is over, I'm back to trying to coordinate this mess

Any ideas? The beauty if the pedalboard is wah is there along with volume pedal. Beauty of a rack is it's all instant access MIDI, outside of the VP and the wah. The two amps I run are Hagen and 20thA X, the Hagen's got the superior loop so I tend to throw the TimeFactor in that; and slam the Hardwire Reverb (awesome recommendation Reza, thanks!) in the XTC. I can run the TF via MIDI on the Hagen; I can engage/disengage the 'verb on the XTC via the footpedal. Ack!!!

Mo

 

[Vanlaing5150]

Call Bradshaw and rack em!

 

[Ventura]

Call Bradshaw and rack em!

Ya, ya.... Been there - have ya ever tried nailing an ETA out of this guy? Granted, he does pimp work...but not the easiest cat to get a hold of and sort through plans with.

 

[petejt]

I like having pedals at my feet, so I loop them with a GigRig. The GigRig also sends MIDI messages so can be used to programme amp channels (via a relay switcher like a GCX).

 

[glassjaw7]

Mo, I've been going through the same thing for several years...seriously. Bought an amp/rack case and a sliding drawer a few years back when I first joined RT, but never followed through with switcher/board etc. Now I'm thinking about a Pedaltrain Pro with all my stomps and maybe just a delay unit in the case. It's SO hard to decide which way to go! I think it's time I follow through with one and see if I like it. I'll decide from there.

 

[Reiep]

Can you please described the full path for your effects ?

For what I understand Rezamatix is right, you can have the best of both worlds. You can rack some effects with a rack looper and keep the others in front of you, with something like a MusicomLab EFX which allows you to control your pedals by midi.

All depends on your budget, and your needs. For example, do you need tap tempo for your TimeFactor ? If yes, either you have to have it in front of you, or you need to have a midi controller that allows to send CCs.

 

[university81]

i'd do both =0

as ultimately you're likely to have at least say a tuner out front maybe a wah and what not, so might as well combine the two, layout can be easier too instead of having some pedals in certain loops and a 50 cables going back and forth from your pedalboard

my current setup i've got a rocktron multivalve in the loop with an EQ and out front a midi footcontroller and a few pedals (tuner/comp + bb preamp),
given the amp (jvm410) is midi controllable as well, it's the best setup for me at least, channel switching/presets all in one switch, and i sometimes add the BB preamp although I hardly ever do

you could say look into one of those bypass loopers with midi control *MusicomLab , or G-lab stuff and have some pedals out front, and then some in a rack with a switching system for the loop

 

[jlbaxe]

Rack 'em up Pic from a few years ago but 'eh RJM RG-16 is the way to go. Not only can you program your effects with the push of the write button but you can do the same for your amp channel switching and use a RJM cable out the back to your amp.

 

[rupe]

The only way is both.

This ^ I keep a wah, volume, boost, and GCP on a board and everything else in the rack.

That said, I'm almost embarrassed to admit that after building my racked pedal rig, I find myself, more often than not, pulling a couple of pedals out of it and using a small board for gigs.

 

[Gainzilla]

Mo, Call Casey Hanson, his work is off the charts, EXTREMELY reasonably priced and hes an awesome dude..

As far as Rack and board or just board, thats highly subjective and all depends on your needs. Casey can do either and do it very well..

Kage

 

[lordriffenstein]

I have done all of the above and am actually using 2 different systems.

I have a rack setup with a CAE 3+SE and a looper that holds my pre-gain pedals, post-gain fx are handled by a GForce. My board only has the midicontroller, wah and an EB that controls my volume via a DMC System Mix+. Works great and I notice I hardly EVER touch my pedals and never at all when gigging. Been using the exact same setup for +3 years and except for some pedal swapping, nothing has changed about it.

But that's a fairly big board and setup so for smaller gigs I'm using an amp head and build a board with a Musicom looper, couple of pedals on the board in the Musicom loops and a TC Nova System in the loop. Same functionality, smaller package (that's what I tell the girls! hahaha). On the board there is 1 pedal I actually tweak mid-gig, a Red Witch Phaser and I only tweak it because besides phaser it also gets me tremolo and univibe-ish tones. The other pedals are pretty much set 'n' forget.

It all has advantages and disadvantages but you gotta answer some questions for yourself. How portable does it need to be? How much am I going to tweak pedal settings during a gig? How big can my board be? How quickly do you want to be set up?

It's a fantastic time to be a guitarist, you can get pretty much anything you'd need off the shelf and there's no need for custom work except maybe wiring and pedalboard interfaces but even those you can build yourself. Check out some pics of my pedalboard build, I need to add one more as my Empress compressor is missing in the pics.

 

[PaulyPanacea]

i at first thought this was a tribute thread to my signature stomp!!

 

[The Hoff]

I haven't gone the racked route yet. So I guess, pedalboard for me

 

[Ventura]

Mo, Call Casey Hanson, his work is off the charts, EXTREMELY reasonably priced and hes an awesome dude..

As far as Rack and board or just board, thats highly subjective and all depends on your needs. Casey can do either and do it very well..

Kage

You talking our local drummer-cum-guitarist Casey?? That'd be awesome

Judging from the replies and thinking about my wants and needs, although I am trying to keep it simple and clean, it may be best to go with a combo of both. I am just an extremist - all or nothing. But ya, I'll start to plan this out and go from there.

As to the post about the chain order, for sure, I'll post this tonight - been a busy day - but I'll let you know what I have and where it goes.

Thanks a bunch guys,

Mo

 

[Ventura]

i at first thought this was a tribute thread to my signature stomp!!

Honorable mention to you, Sir, most certainly

 

[glpg80]

Rack'em, let MIDI sort them out

Slogo i made up

 

[Joeytpg]

I have a few questions for ya which will help you determine what you might want.

1) you gig out often?

2) you swap pedals and fx a lot?

3) how big is your pedal collection (the ones you're using)

if you play out a lot, maybe carrying the rack plus the board (you still need the midi switcher and the Wah/VP) imo is just too much (but that's me, I HATE cumbersome rigs). if you have a nice small/medium collection, then just make a nice board and have fun.

I'd go the pedalboard route

now if you gig a lot and have a large setlist with a lot of different tones and fx, then no doubt the midi route is the way since it's all programmed

 

[Joeytpg]

I haven't gone the racked route yet. So I guess, pedalboard for me

your board is AWESOME hoff, I'm in love with it, don't go Rack please

post a picture of it for some pedalboard porn!

 

[nevusofota]

Rack'em, let MIDI sort them out

This my friend is sig worthy

 

[Shark Diver]

The only way is both.

I keep some (in front style) pedals on the board and the rest are racked.
With a basic plan you can switch and run stereo effects and amp channels simultaneously.

If I was starting from scratch I would do it the same way.

Exactly what I am doing as well. Controller and Volume/Wah out front. The rest racked. But a custom rack that sits on my Mesa SUS-4 that is open on top if I need to turn around and adjust. Looped in a RJM FX Gizmo which is at the bottom of the board/rack hybrid so I can program super easy.